‘‘Good Climate, Friendly Inhabitants’’ is written in the first person in everyday, colloquial language. The narrator appears to be telling a story, either directly to the reader or perhaps to an unknown third party. In the story’s opening paragraphs, the narrator, whose name is never mentioned, introduces herself as a bookkeeper of a petrol (gas)…
Tag: Summary
The Garden of Stubborn Cats – Summary
‘‘The Garden of Stubborn Cats’’ is one of a series of related stories in Marcovaldo, or The Seasons in the City , that detail the experiences of a poor worker named Marcovaldo and his family over the course of five years. Each of the twenty stories is set during one season of those five years,…
The Fence by Hamsad Rangkuti – Summary
The story begins with heavy rain, a common occurrence in Sumatra during the rainy season. Through the window, the Narrator spots an old man taking shelter under the eaves of the house. The old man is hunched over. Mother turns out the light and peeks through the curtain, trying to keep the old man from…
End of the Game – Summary
‘‘End of the Game’’ is the story of three adolescent girls and a fantasy game they play in a field behind their house in full view of the Argentine Central Train Track. The girls, Letitia, Holanda, and the Narrator, live with Mama and Aunt Ruth, two disciplinarians who seem always to be disapproving of the…
A Devoted Son – Summary
As ‘‘A Devoted Son’’ opens, Rakesh’s family is celebrating his academic triumph. The morning papers report that he has earned high entrance exam scores for medical school, among the best in India. Rakesh comes from a humble background—he was ‘‘the first son in the family to receive an education’’— and his family and his neighborhood…
Daughter of Invention – Summary
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents takes place in the early 1960s, just after the Garcia family has fled to New York from the Dominican Republic. The family is trying to adjust to their new culture. In the story, there are hints that the family escaped the Dominican Republic because their father had been…
By the Waters of Babylon – Summary
‘‘By the Waters of Babylon’’ begins with a brief summary of the rules of a tribe that is later identified as the People of the Hills. This group allows hunting to the west, north, and south, but no one is allowed to travel to the east. People are also forbidden from going to the Dead…
Where Have You Gone Charming Billy? by Tim O’Brien – Summary
‘‘Where Have You Gone Charming Billy?’’ takes place during a night march that comes at the end of Paul Berlin’s first day in the Vietnam War. The story opens with the platoon moving slowly through the dark and stopping to rest. Paul Berlin brings up the rear, and as they rest, he retreats into his…
Thank You, Ma’am by Langston Hughes – Summary
‘‘Thank You, Ma’m’’ is told in the voice of an impersonal third-person narrator. Hughes begins the story with a description of Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones (although her name is not revealed until later in the text). Hughes emphasizes her large physical size and the enormous size of her purse, as though suggesting she is…
Suzy & Leah – Summary – Short Story
Yolen’s short story ‘‘Suzy and Leah’’ covers the meeting of two young girls—one is a blondehaired American student named Suzy; the other is Leah, a dark-haired refugee who has come to the United States from Nazi Germany. At the opening of the story, it is August 1944, approximately one year before the official end of…